For Someone New to Manga

[Agro]

MT,

A month ago I got into manga because I wanted to make comic books with my own characters and settings. But prior to that, I have no real experience with manga or anime. So I'm asking for your advice. What's a good manga series for someone new to the art?

More specifically, I'm really into fantasy (Tolkien etc), and I love seeing different art styles. But anything really will do. So any comics or series that you recommend would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[jubeh]

I'm going to put my two cents in before everyone starts recommending cutesy nonsense and whatnot.

I recommend Sangokushi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms), Buddha, and Vagabond.

The first two are undeniably old school but classics. They're not tolkien-esque in the sense that its fantasy fiction or anything (even though they tend to bend history until its unrecognizable and warped), but they both have excellent characters and lie outside the typical settings of most manga.

Vagabond is just really amazing in every way. It's a retelling of Eiji Yoshikawa's novel Musashi, but with a lot of really unique spins. I like it a lot because it asks a lot of questions that you usually put aside when it comes to romantic stories.

[weez18]

hmm well if u wanna c a wide range of characteristics for characters you can always check out death note..personally thts one of my favorite animes...and also if you havent already u can check out the naruto manga..awesome if you ask me lol.

[Delphinus]

^ Death Note is fun if you don't think too hard about it, but stay away from Naruto unless you have masochistic tendencies.

Just wanted to drop that in there, since I don't really know of any good fantasy manga. I mean, I can recommend a few good sci-fi and cyberpunk series, but nothing that's similar to what you're probably thinking of.

[ram]

start with doraemon if you want a basic one

[Rio]

Fantasy manga's I know about:
Dragon Quest Dai Dai Dai
1/2 Prince (well, it's more about an MMO game with a fantasy setting)
Fairy Tail
Atelier Elie & Marie
Magic Knight Rayearth
.hack// (same as 1/2 Prince; an MMO with fantasy settings)
Monster Hunter Orage (short but not bad)
Toriko (not really your traditional fantasy manga but it is definitely set in a fantasy-like world or sorts)
Slayers
...and that's all that I remember for now. <_<

[Bacon_Barbarian]

Toriko is Dragon Ball (not Z) but better.

[ClockHand]

If you are into Fantasy, more Tolkien type, you should read:
Vinland Saga (its about vikings and its very well contextualized).
Berserk (medieval brute smashing fights)
Vagabond (as jubeh said its cool and it has a insane art).

There are plenty more but I recommend in focus on those (also the ones Jubeh has mentioned are very good to as reference). But more than just saying you want to do a fantasy story you need to ask yourself plenty of questions, like social stratification of the world, world contextualization, characters on the world, type of art, etc.

Also you need to ask yourself which is the best way to start the story. Do you want to start with a chosen one character who need to kill the villain? or a circular character who try to take revenge against his nemesis? Do you want to use magic as a constant deus ex? or do you want to take everything in a new direction?

[jubeh]

This isn't a knock at rio, but more specifically the manga that she recommended. If you're used to well crafted worlds where every detail has been conceived, all those manga are going to seem super dumb in comparison. Not that they're inherently bad or anything.

[Rio]

I didn't recommend them. They're just a list of manga's that are fantasy-based. They're actually far and few in between now that I've thought about it so he should at least be able to see what is out there. Who knows? Maybe he does like reading super dumb stuff just to waste time.